One known type of commercial trash container includes a main generally rectangular body portion and a slanted front access portion which has generally been covered by a two section lid. These trash containers come in various sizes and dimensions ranging from about 6 cubic yards capacity to about 16 cubic yards.
The original units had the slanted access portion covered by two hinged steel plates. A long lever was coupled to the hinge rod of the rear section, and as the lever was rotated, the rear section would be pivoted up, carrying the pivoting front section with the rear section and holding the front section against the rear section until they finally both lay flat on the top of the rear portion of the unit with the front access opening wide open.
A double hinged plastic lid design was disclosed in United Kingdom Design Patent No. D2011302, granted to Craig V. Taylor on May 2, 1991. For adequate rigidity, both the front and the rear sections of the lid included upper and lower plastic layers joined to form a lid of increased strength and rigidity. However, in the closed configuration, the two adjacent edges of the front and rear sections engaged one another. Accordingly, in order to deposit trash, both lid sections had to be moved. This is, of course, inconvenient, particularly when small parcels of trash are to be deposited.
Incidentally, Craig V. Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,940, granted Sep. 20, 1988, discloses a two-layer plastic lid for a somewhat different type of container.
Another attempt at designing a cover has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The prior art lid depicted in FIG. 1 discloses, generally, a double-hinged lid for a commercial trash container, having a main rear, generally rectangular portion, and a front slanted, trash receiving portion. More particularly, the double-hinged lid 26 illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a front lid section 28 and a rear lid section 30 which are pivotally joined. Rear lid section 30 is pivotally mounted to container 20 at 23. A pair of angle irons 27 are fixedly attached to rear lid section 30 along both edges thereof, and to a pivoting torsion bar extending across the assembly along the pivot axis 23; and the pivoting torsion bar is operatively coupled to the actuating lever 32. Operation of this double-hinged lid involves physically manipulating the actuating lever 32 in a clockwise direction, which in turn raises rear lid section 30. The person using this lid is then required to swing front lid portion 28 over and behind rear lid section 30, positioning front lid section 28 so that it rests flat on the rear portion of trash container 20 beneath the rear section 30.